---
title: "Integrated Mediation and Disagreement Resolution For Young People and Parents and Carers of Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL"
published: "2025-06-24"
---

# Integrated Mediation and Disagreement Resolution For Young People and Parents and Carers of Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities

Buyer: NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6

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## Summary

Norfolk County Council has recently completed the award stage of a procurement process for an "Integrated Mediation and Disagreement Resolution For Young People and Parents and Carers of Children with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities" service. This procurement, rooted in the legal basis provided by the Children and Families Act 2014, aimed to establish a robust framework for handling SEND Mediation and Disagreement Resolution. The process was conducted via an open procedure and carries a contract value of £600,000, with an overall gross amount of £720,000 funded to cover service costs. The locations covered by this procurement include several regions within the UK, specifically UKH15 to UKH17. The contract, awarded to Anglia Care Trust, is expected to start on 1st September 2025 and run until 31st August 2028, with a potential future extension. Key dates include the release of assessment summaries on 24th June 2025, and the end of the standstill period scheduled for 4th July 2025.

This procurement creates substantial opportunities for SMEs and VCSEs, particularly those with expertise in health and social work services, to capitalise on the evolving needs in the SEND domain. The open procedure adopted for this procurement suggests a transparent competitive process that favoured businesses adept in handling specialized mediation services. With the significant involvement of SMEs, this contract exemplifies an avenue for smaller businesses to demonstrate their capacity and scale their operations by contributing to crucial local government initiatives. Companies experienced in managing service delivery plans, particularly around educational and health care policy compliance, are ideally suited to participate in such opportunities, which aim not only for effective service provision but also for fostering long-term cooperative relationships within community sectors.

## Notice

Norfolk County council is looking to award a contract for the provision of SEND Mediation and Disagreement Resolution. The Children and Families Act 2014 requires Mediation and Disagreement Resolution (MDR) services to be put in place by Local Authorities and health commissioners. Disagreement Resolution and Mediation is a voluntary, private and confidential process. The aim is to bring people together in a facilitated way to find solutions to their disagreements. It can save time and pressure for all involved and it can help re-build relationships that have broken down. Early resolution of disagreements benefits children, young people, parents, carers, institutions, and professionals' party to the disagreement. *Mediation focuses on elements of an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP) in education, social care, or health. It is used at various stages of the process and is specifically linked to decisions about EHCP needs assessments and plans. *Disagreement Resolution focuses on any element of SEND provision, not just those who are being assessed for (or have) an EHCP. All those who bids were assessed have been issued with assessment summaries as per the Procurement Act 2023 section 50(3). These were issued on 24 June 2025.

### Planning Information

This is a Preliminary Market Engagement Notice(PMEN) for information purposes only. It is not a formal invitation to tender. You will need to respond to the tender notice in order to be considered for these contracts. The purpose of this PMEN is to maximise transparency and competition for the upcoming tender notice. All details in this PMEN are subject to being updated or changed in the tender notice. We are publishing this notice to share engagement outputs and to ensure as wider audience as possible are aware and informed of Norfolk County Council's intentions. Market engagement has taken place. The engagement was advertised under a prior information notice (PIN)published under the Public Contract 2015 regulations 2025/S 000-002473. This engagement was carried out by commissioners. The opportunity was advertised via PINs under the Public Contract Regulations 2015.
Initial Market engagement for adoption support was held on Monday 10th February 2025 via Teams webinar. We
used the engagement to discuss our requirements, the tender process we are proposing and expectations of all parties.
Information provided at the engagement in the form of slides and notes are available to be viewed via the clarification tab. These documents can be viewed by registering on the Norfolk County Council in-tend portal, expressing an interest in this tender. A tender notice will be published to advertise this opportunity .
This procurement will be managed electronically via the Council`s e-procurement system. To participate in this procurement and gain access to documents when they are available, applicants must first be registered on the system at
https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc (https://intendhost.
co.uk/norfolkcc). Full instructions for registration and use of the system can be found at
https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles
(https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles)
.Once registered you will be able to see the procurement project under the `tenders` section and `express an interest` in this tender. If you encounter any difficulties whilst using the system you can contact the In-tend support team by phoning +44 8442728810 or e-mailing
support@in-tend.co.uk
We then had further market engagement in the form of 1 to 1's via teams with interested parties on the 20th and 25th February 2025, to share their views on a few topic areas to help shape the service specification and our performance management framework. Our areas of interest were:• Participation in mediation and disagreement resolution of school-age children and for young people post-16 years.• Pricing mechanisms for the service• Meeting the volume of demand for the service• Key performance indicators for this type of service. The engagement was advertised under a prior information notice (PIN)published under the Public Contract 2015 regulations 2025/S 000-004982. This engagement was carried out by commissioners. The opportunity was advertised via PINs under the Public Contract Regulations 2015.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/034792-2025 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Open |
| Procurement method details | Open procedure |
| Tender suitability | SME, VCSE |
| Awardee scale | SME |
| All stages | Planning, Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 24 Jun 2025 |
| Submission deadline | 19 May 2025 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 23 Jun 2025 |
| Contract period | 31 Aug 2025 - 31 Aug 2028 |
| Recurrence | 2028-04-17 |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | £600,000 |
| Lots value | £600,000 |
| Awards value | £600,000 |
| Contracts value | Not specified |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Pending |
| Contracts status | Not specified |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | NORFOLK COUNTY COUNCIL |
| Locality | NORWICH |
| Post town | Norwich |
| Postcode | NR1 2DH |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLH East (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLH5 Norfolk |
| ITL 3 | TLH51 Norwich and East Norfolk |
| Local authority | Norwich |
| Electoral ward | Lakenham |
| Westminster constituency | Norwich South |
| Delivery location | TLH15 Norwich and East Norfolk, TLH16 North and West Norfolk, TLH17 Breckland and South Norfolk |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | ANGLIA CARE TRUST |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 85 - Health and social work services

### Codes

- 85000000 - Health and social work services

## Release History

- 24 Jun 2025 at 14:23 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/034792-2025
- 17 Apr 2025 at 10:55 - Tender - UK4 - Tender Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015860-2025
- 16 Apr 2025 at 08:43 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015413-2025

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/034792-2025
  24th June 2025 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015860-2025
  17th April 2025 - Tender notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/015413-2025
  16th April 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-714
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-715
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-716
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-717
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-718
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-719
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/Attachment/A-728

## Notice URLs

- http://www.angliacaretrust.org.uk/
- https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc
- https://in-tendhost.co.uk/norfolkcc/aspx/BuyerProfiles
- https://intendhost
- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-0503a6.json.